Germany’s economy to shrink 2.25% in 2009 - government

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Germany’s government expects the country’s economy to decline by 2.25% in 2009 as it was facing its biggest challenge since reunification in 1990, it said on Wednesday.

?xml:namespace>Europe’s largest economy was highly integrated into the global economy and therefore immediately exposed to the international financial crisis and the worldwide recession, the government said in an economic update.

The projected decline, which already included expected positive impulses from government stimulus and employment measures, is in line with recent forecasts by economists, but it is sharply down from the government’s earlier expectation of 0.2% growth for the year.

It compares with an overall 1.8% decline decline expected for the 27-member state European Union this year.

German chemical producers said last month they expected production to fall 1% in 2009, a forecast some commentators said may be too optimistic.